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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

As many of our readers know, In-Reach Heathen Prison Services is an effort undertaken by The Troth, Distelfink Sippschaft, and numerous individuals who are concerned about the toxic environment to incarcerated Heathens.

While some states are fairly well advanced in allowing Heathens access to ceremonies, others are still learning what Heathenry is (and is not). For many administrators and chaplains, Heathenry is an enigma, and most of their direct contact is tainted by white supremacism.

Many inmates convert to Heathenry while incarcerated, and the types of materials and individuals who control the discussion often create the inmates' understanding of what it means to be Heathen.

We've been working hard to provide positive Heathen materials to inmates, administrators, and chaplains. We are slowly beginning to see some successes.

Starting tomorrow, In-Reach is conducting its first Yule ceremonies in New Jersey with chaplain and administration support (which is a milestone). The ceremonies will be in six compounds in three facilities.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Once again, the news is rife with reports of violence, rudeness, greed, and graft associated with Black Friday. Black Friday has long been a major shopping day in the United States, but, in the past few years, it has become simultaneously a holiday in its own right and a force of chaos that is tearing our social fabric apart.

I think most folks would recognize that Christmas has been poisoned for a long time by the Consumer Culture. That poison will eventually work its way towards Yule and Hanukkah, too. However, the holiday most in jeopardy now is Thanksgiving.

This is one of those opportunities in which Americans of all spiritual persuasions can take a stand against the spiritless religion of the Consumer Culture. The major retailers are gradually opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving, forcing workers to leave their families on one of the most significant celebrations of family that we have as a nation.

The advertising schemes and media glorification urge people to throw their Thanksgiving meal dishes into the sink and run off to the stores right away, thus eroding this major holiday to the point where it will be little more than "Black Friday Eve."

It is up to the adherents of all religions and to Americans who understand the value of the spirit of modern Thanksgiving observances to take a stand against the onslaught of emptiness from the Consumer Culture.

On Black Friday, it would be far better to spend time at a craft show with our families than getting in fights with people over parking spaces at Macy's. Chances are that we won't be hit by a taser by someone at a craft show, unlike the victims of some nut in Cherry Hill, New Jersey earlier today. How crazy is this?

While the shopping will continue, I urge folks who take family and community seriously to shun the Consumer Culture at least through Thanksgiving. Sure, we may pay more financially for gifts later in the season, but we cannot place a value on the time spent with loved ones in a shared observance of gratitude for the miracle of life.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

From some Heathens in Oregon:Link to Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/kqjrh7gDescription: "The Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting a fallen soldier's funeral this Sunday (Oct.20). I want people to mirror the protestors and hold American flags. This is Peaceful reinforcement."

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The pre-Christian religion of ancient Germanic civilizations is known by many names, but is most commonly referred to as Heathenry or Asatru. This religion is a polytheistic one that believes in gods and goddesses such as Odin, Thor, Frey, Frigga, and Freya who are known through the famous Viking sagas. There is also a belief that our ancestors play a part in our lives, and a belief that spirits of the dead dwell in the earth, the forests, and the lakes and rivers. We celebrate spiritual traditions from Northern Europe, this is not a religion of hate.

Unfortunately members of White Nationalist organizations seek to misrepresent our culture and our spiritual heritage to disguise and gain acceptance among more mainstream demographics. The Leif Erikson Day celebration in Philadelphia is one such occasion in which a White Nationalist group is attempting to do this. This celebration is being organized by the Keystone State Skinheads, a group with a long track record of White Supremacist hate crimes among their members. Philadelphia Leif Erikson Day is not about Viking explorers, it's not about a cultural history that the Scandinavian-American community can get behind, and it is certainly not about Asatru.

As members of the Asatru and Heathen community, we openly reject any attempt by the Keystone State Skinheads and members of other White Nationalist hate groups to appropriate and misrepresent this Holiday. We will not stand silently by as these racists misrepresent our history as one of hate.

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Manager's note: Leif Erikson Day in Philly is becoming an annual struggle between opposing racial hate groups, leaving the average citizen stuck in the middle. The rhetoric became amplified after October 2008, when racial extremists vandalized the Thorfinn Karlsefni statue with red paint. Since then this touchstone for Scandinavian culture in the United States has become the centerpiece of an annual struggle between racist groups and the people of Philadelphia who want all the hate groups to leave their community.

Hate cuts in many directions. The Thorfinn Karlsefni statue represents a Scandinavian contribution to world history. It is owned by the Philadelphia community, not by the racist extremists of any racial or ethnic group or by the extremists at either end of the political spectrum. To use the statue either as a rallying point or a target for the advancement of racist causes is offensive and intolerable.

In the cases addressed by the LLL letter, the exhortation is for violence against those who practice "witchcraft." Since virtually everything Heathen would be defined as "witchcraft" by certain segments of society, this is one of those issues that all Heathens should stand together (along with Pagans, Wiccans, and others who would be targeted by the hate groups) to confront.

Heathens Against Hate supports LLL call for Facebook to uphold its own rules. Facebook, as a wondrous meeting place of ideas, should not be allowed to be used as a tool for those who would engage in violence or murder.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Part of In-Reach Heathen Prison Services' mission is to provide positive Heathen materials and messages to incarcerated Heathens. The absence of such materials abets the spread of racism- and bigotry-tinged materials because they are then the only materials that the inmates see.

In-Reach is now a listed beneficiary of book donations at Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day (August 31). Heathen book donations will be sent to the libraries of facilities with which we are in contact. Other Pagan book donations will be distributed though allied networks.

Folks who are able to make it to Philly on August 31 are encouraged to join us! Heathens Against Hate will have a presence at this event as well.

Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day is a family-friendly celebration of the harvest and reflects a variety of Pagan, Heathen, Wiccan, and other religious beliefs and practices. The day's events will feature a variety of workshops and discussions on religious and cultural aspects from the various traditions.

We have an exciting array of vendors and performers who will exhibit their wares and their talents. We are accepting additional vendors, workshop leaders, performers, and children's activity ideas up until August 15, 2013. Please visit www.philadelphiapaganpride.org to participate!

Entry to the event is free, but we do request the donation of a canned food item or other provisions for our beneficiaries. This year, our beneficiaries are the food bank at the Mazzoni Center, Forgotten Cats, and In-Reach Heathen Prison Services.

In 2012, Mazzoni Center's food bank Mazzoni Center's Food Bank provided more than 11,000 bags of groceries for over 1,200 individuals and families. For more information on Mazzoni Center services, please see mazzonicenter.org/content/food-bank.

Forgotten Cats is a humane trap, neuter, and release organization. the organization also provides adoption services. For more information on Forgotten Cats, please see www.forgottencats.org.

In-Reach Heathen Prison Services is a joint effort of The Troth and Distelfink Sippschaft to bring positive materials and messages to incarcerated Heathens. In-Reach also accepts donations of other Pagan materials and distributes them through alliances and partnerships with other Pagan organizations. For more information on In-Reach, please see thetroth.blogspot.com/p/in-reach-program.html.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Venner spent decades undertaking efforts to revive the French Empire and pursuing French nationalist causes based mostly in hatred. The impetus for Venner's dramatic suicide was the passing of same-sex marriage legislation in France.

Many observers, commentators, and even some on the far right fringe of the Blogosphere are juxtaposing Venner's philosophies with "Germanic paganism," which, of course is a root shared with much of Heathenry. His suicide is serving as a rallying point for extreme racist elements, which is casting a shadow of hatred over our religion and heritage in the public's perception.

HAH rejects the linking of our deities with hateful forces that are obsessed with the ideas of creating a world that could not exist without the murder and forced removal of millions of people. These self-destructive ideas do not bring bright fame or glory to our Gods, Goddesses, ancestors, descendants, or cultures.

Friday, May 17, 2013

As I begin reconstruction of the HAH messages and theories, I wish to describe the direction in which we are headed. Much of this is still in an evolving state, so the end results may vary a bit.

For starters, we're encumbered a bit by the term "hate." While I think most folks know what kind of "hate" HAH is referring to in its current messages, we have to be clear that there are different types and levels of "hate" or "hatred." These different types and aspects need to be worked out.

Most of us recognize that mindless bigotry against those of other races, sexual orientations, and nationalities is a destructive force. However, we have other types of insidious bigotries that must also be addressed. For example:

- Non-Heathen bigotry against Heathens
- Racial bigotry in any direction
- Automatic suspicion of Folkish groups as racist
- Unfounded use of "racist" as a political weapon
- Many other permutations, including shunning and "blue gate" concepts (which will be described at a later time)

It will take some time to work through these philosophies. Thank you for bearing with us.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The recent approval by The Troth's High Rede of the In-Reach Heathen Prison Services has generated some controversy about the need and/or propriety of Heathens conducting interaction with current inmates.

To the credit of the Heathen community, the discussion has been frithful. Although I support (obviously) a positive Heathen presence working in prison settings, I also firmly believe that the opponents to prison services are objecting out of a sincere desire to keep stability and honor central to Heathenry.

This is not a minor detail. This is a large subject with many potential ramifications on the entire Heathen community. I anticipate that the opponents will also recognize that those of us who are engaged in the prison services are doing so out of a desire to help keep stability and a positive reputation for Heathenry as well.

I would like to address a few of the opponents' main points, all of which I fully understand and took into consideration during the construction of Distelfink's initial In-Reach program.

I will be up-front here; three years ago, I never would have seen myself being involved in such an effort. I received a letter from an inmate, who stated that he had wanted to write to me for almost a year but was too embarrassed by his actions to initiate contact. He stated that he felt he had to achieve something before he could contact the outside Heathen community.

What he had achieved was successfully petitioning the prison administrators for the right to wear Thor's Hammers.

The story of this particular inmate includes many details in his effort to serve as a positive representative for Heathenry among the inmate population, but the major point of this anecdote is that he acknowledged his crime his responsibility to make amends to his community and to his family. While this is indeed an anecdote, it also represents a response to one point that I have seen opponents make: "Many prisoners blame everyone else for being in prison and don't own up to what they did."

That being said, I have come across inmates who do not take responsibility for their own choices and actions. There are some about whom I have concerns, particularly those who initially showed up already identifying as Heathen (most frequently as Odinist but also sometimes as Asatru) and bearing racist tattoos or making racist statements. In some cases, these inmates are the source of some of the materials that present a hateful and twisted version of Heathenry.

This is where the crux of the work comes. In the absence of our voice, these are the prisoners whom other Heathens, particularly those new to the faith, hear and see as authorities on the faith. The Heathen community in the prison system then projects that racism-tinged form of the faith outward to the staff and the administrators, who, in turn, label all of Heathenry as a racist or white supremacist religion.

It is this label that In-Reach and other Heathen prison service efforts is trying hardest to combat.

Other common objections to Heathen prison services run along the lines of, "We are not Christians, so we do not save souls," and, "Inmates have a debt to society. Until they repay it, we owe them nothing."

I can sympathize with both of these sentiments, particularly if I were to look at the purpose of Heathen prison services as being all about saving the inmates.

Speaking for myself, improving the inmates is an ancillary goal of such efforts; the primary purpose is the protection of the Heathen community, as reflected in In-Reach's Position statement:

Although there is some debate as to whether frith allows for inmates to be attended to until their debt to society is repaid, there are other angles to consider that are equally relevant under frith. Whether inmates have access to positive Heathen influences is part of a larger issue that has an impact on the whole of the Heathen community. In many cases, the perception of Heathenry is defined by radical racist elements from the prison population.

The administrators are not blindly or randomly inventing their perceptions; the perceptions have formed from the presence of race-based books, tattoos, and gang behaviors that have been found among the Heathen prison population. A radicalization based on race and/or ethnicity is taking place in some facilities. When these radical racists are released into the general population, the history of their experience and influence will become an even bigger problem for us than it is now. Thus, prison outreach efforts are a frithful move to protect the folk from this destructive radicalization. This program meets a need that supersedes the unpaid debt of individual prisoners.

This is, perhaps, the most important differentiation between the Christian concept of saving souls and the Heathen effort to protect our community from problems that will arise when racially radicalized inmates get out of prison and interact with our communities or make news through their actions. One example of this kind of catastrophe is the murder of Colorado Department of Corrections chief, Tom Clements, at the hands of an individual who self-identified as Asatru.

I am sure that our prison services efforts will not be able to stop all unstable people who identify as Heathen from commit heinous acts and making the news. However, our efforts can show that their crimes do not reflect the wider Heathen community's values.

Additionally, there is at least one incident that has happened involving and inmate who undertook efforts to protect the faith's reputation by condemning the propagation of hate-based literature in one of the prisons. This inmate was almost physically assaulted by another inmate. Fortunately, other inmates came to his aid. While others' viewpoint may disagree, I view this as an effort to repay his debt to the Heathen community at his own physical peril. He could just as easily have stayed quiet. Again, this is anecdotal, but it is important for the community to know that some inmates are working actively to thwart the racist agenda in the prisons.

One last aspect that I'd like others to consider is the equal treatment of Heathenry. Our work in the first prison led to the establishment of a trust between the prison administrators and the area Heathen community. However, at least one inmate who went to a transition house and then a halfway house experienced flat-out discrimination based on his religion.

Despite providing materials to the transition house showing ample proof of a history of working against racism, he was told by the transition house administrators that they did not care what the documentation said, his religion is white supremacist and he is a racist. He is not allowed to receive any Heathen religious visitation. Department of Corrections rules understandably bar me from being able to write letters to any inmate if I am visiting any facility in person. Thus, the transition house's ban on Heathen volunteer visitation effectively slams shut this inmates' connection to the wider community based on the administrators' religious bigotry.

Meanwhile, representatives from other religious groups regularly visit inmates at that site. The inmate's response to these accusations is on hold until he completes his sentence because the transition house holds all of the power.

I do not know whether presenting these viewpoints and anecdotes will change anyone's opinion about Heathen prison services. However, I do hope that this article will help the opponents' of such services as least to understand that the root desire of this work is the protection of the Heathen community and of the community's reputation.

I hope those with concerns about the prison services will wish us well. If the services fail, then not much would be different than had we not tried at all. However, if the provided services are successful, we may have fewer troubles and perils in our community when inmates are released.

This is a complicated issue with many aspects and viewpoints that must be considered. I again thank the opponents of the prison services for taking the time to read some of the arguments for such work and also for their respectful engagement with me. It is this ability to disagree while upholding frith and retaining respect that makes the Heathen community stronger.

Monday, May 6, 2013

The murder of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements has shaken the Heathen community, particularly because the primary murder suspect, Evan Ebel, self-identifies as Asatru.

I am sure many folks in the Heathen community remember the sensationalized reporting surrounding Dan Halloran in New York City. The press ridiculed his Theodish religion. On the heels of that incident, we now have something far more dire to confront.

The media reports include references to Asatru as a "controversial religion," and that was among the least offensive comments made about the religion in this case.

This is the first post on this new Heathens Against Hate blog, and it is most appropriate that it comes at a time when the public is being led by the media to a skewed understanding of what Heathenry is and who Heathens are.